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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23623438">Leaving Empty Souls</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crab_Lad/pseuds/Crab_Lad'>Crab_Lad</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Crab's need for clone wars content [13]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Can be read as rex/obi, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Study, Episode: s04e13 Escape From Kadavo, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Torture, Kadavo (Star Wars), Minor, Post-Episode: s04e13 Escape From Kadavo, Separation Anxiety, but i wrote it as gen, no beta we die like men, probably out of character, uhhh</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 08:33:36</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,231</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23623438</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crab_Lad/pseuds/Crab_Lad</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Title from Blood Like Lemonade by Morcheeba</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>CC-2224 | Cody &amp; CT-7567 | Rex, CC-2224 | Cody &amp; Obi-Wan Kenobi, Obi-Wan Kenobi &amp; CT-7567 | Rex</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Crab's need for clone wars content [13]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1662106</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>176</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Leaving Empty Souls</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Sorry if Rex seems out of character?? Halfway through writing this I started to feel insecure about it but I was already committed so- sorry if he seems too much like Cody. </p>
<p>Im also like. Not totally happy with this fic. I just,, feel as if I've done wrong by it. I hope some people manage to enjoy it regardless.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The physical pain isn’t the worst he’s had to bear. The lashes against his back, the electricity that spreads through his body every time they touch the staff to the collar, all of it. He has dealt with worse. Emotionally too, he’s dealt with so much worse. He’s seen his master die in front of him, witnessed horrors on planets far off, children fighting to end a conflict. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Yet, it’s the complete helplessness, the knowledge that no matter what he did, he would cause pain for those around him. He </span>
  <em>
    <span>couldn’t help couldn’t do his duty as a Jedi, couldn't save the people he had promised-</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And Rex. The poor captain had gotten caught up in all this, stuck to Obi-Wan’s side through duty alone. Rex, who despite the horror’s going around him, seemed unperturbed. Calm and silent as if this were any other mission. Hope, that they would get out.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>No. Not hope. No, that was the look of someone who had resigned themselves to their fate. Who had looked at the truth dead in the eyes and accepted it, no matter how horrible it was. And it broke Obi-Wan’s heart, how easily he had accepted it. Rex had seemed so calm in the wake of their capture, barely reacting the whole way to the labor camps. And even now, he performed his duties calmly, patiently, quickly. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The only time Rex was whipped was when Obi-Wan stepped out of line, helped an injured colonist up, tried to share food so the others didn’t starve. It broke into the very core of who Obi-Wan was. Helping people, that’s what he did, that was what he was here for. That’s what he was supposed to </span>
  <em>
    <span>do</span>
  </em>
  <span>. It was built into his very nature. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And now, people were suffering from it, and Obi-Wan could feel himself spiraling into helplessness and despair. Not even Rex’s blankness, acceptance, had made it better. If anything, that made things so much worse. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>What did that say about how the </span>
  <em>
    <span>vode </span>
  </em>
  <span>had grown up? </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Through it all, he clung to Rex in the moments they could, and in return, Rex clung to him. At night when they were finally away from prying eyes, they would look over each other’s wounds. They would make sure nothing was too serious, and just sit in silence, side by side. Obi-Wan continued to count on Rex’s steady presence, knowing that in the middle of this, there was someone </span>
  <em>
    <span>safe. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Despite his rage, despite his anger and fury at what Agruss had forced him through, he couldn’t bring himself to kill the being. Agruss had stripped him of his ideals, of his beliefs, of his Code. He wouldn’t let him do so again. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But the beast still met his end, a spear struck clear through his chest, courtesy of one pissed off captain. It was the first time Obi-Wan had seen Rex show any hint of emotion since their capture. Those fierce brown eyes burning, face set in a hard stern glare. Fury rolled off of him in waves, leaching into every single nook and cranny of the room. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Once on the ship, they tried to separate him and Rex. It was only then, had Obi-Wan seen the walls Rex had carefully constructed crumble, filling the air with </span>
  <em>
    <span>feardesperationanxietyclinginess.</span>
  </em>
  <span> The craze in the captain’s eyes only spurred on Obi-Wan’s own fierce anxiety, both panicking, reaching for the other. They wouldn’t be separated. Not after that. Obi-Wan wouldn’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>lose the one thing that had been safe for the past weeks. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The man had suffered for him, suffered because of him. It was Obi-Wan’s fault he had been sent to that living hell, forced into the kind of slavery that made the sugar coated slavery that was the GAR seem like a walk in the park. Were the Jedi, the Republic, no better than the Zygerrians? Forcing their men to fight in a war, killing those who were “defective”, and stripping them of their right to choose?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Rex-” he gasped out, reaching, clinging needing his comfort, needing his rock.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Rex’s hands gripped his arms painfully tight as the captain flinched away from the hands around him. Obi-Wan felt himself pulled against Rex’s solid chest. He should be seeing his men, should be finding Cody, but yet he couldn’t bring himself to leave Rex. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s okay” Rex chanted, holding him oh-so-tight. The captain was trembling around him, backing them into the corner. “You’re okay.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>So that blankness, what Obi-Wan had taken as acceptance had really been Rex shutting down, keeping it in to survive. But now they were safe, they were somewhere away from the Zygerians. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The crowd around them thinned until only Apollo and Kix were left, the two medics approaching carefully. Obi-Wan couldn’t help the flinch he gave at Kix’s touch, and he could tell Rex hadn’t meant to let his growl slip out. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Rex turned, keeping Obi-Wan tucked against him as he addressed, murmuring something low and quiet in Mando’a. Obi-Wan was too tired to translate it, too sore and aching in every nerve of his body. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>This time when the medics reached out to take care of his wounds, Obi-Wan didn’t flinch. Even as Rex was pulled away, Obi-Wan kept still, letting them make sure he was okay. It went fine until they tried to treat the electric burn on his neck. All he saw was the hand reaching, reaching for the collar, no doubt only bringing pain, punishment. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And he </span>
  <em>
    <span>whimpered, </span>
  </em>
  <span>curling in on himself to protect his neck, to tuck it down away from the harmful hands. Rex pushed the other two aside, appearing at Obi-Wan’s side instantly. His eyes flared in warning. A hard, stern look appeared on his face, and he angled his body to guard Obi-Wan. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Apollo raised his hands in defense, stripping them of his gloves to show bare skin. The sight of it minutely relaxed Obi-Wan, but still-</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We won’t go near your necks,” Kix promised, taking a careful step forward. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Rex’s shoulders fell as he stepped into Kix’s space. But his eyes lingered on Obi-Wan, careful, observant. Obi-Wan could finally see the fear on the other’s face. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The medics both worked quickly, bandaging what they could before leaving the two alone. Finally, Rex started to tug him toward the door, toward his own captain’s quarters. Obi-Wan went willingly. He didn’t care how childish he was acting, how unlike himself this was. Everything inside him screamed to stay close and hold on. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He was pulled into the room, lights flickering to a low level and door sliding shut. For a moment they just stood, holding each other. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re allowed to break down, Rex,” Obi-Wan assured, holding onto the captain as tightly as Rex was holding him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>That seemed to be the tipping point, tearing down the last few bricks holding the captain’s walls together. All at once, Rex let out a choked sob and tears flooded down his face. The captain was shaking apart in his hands, so much so he barely noticed when the door opened. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Obi-Wan could feel Cody’s rage and fury through the Force, bleeding out of him like oil in water. But it seemed to smooth over as he approached them, going around so he was in both of their lines of sight. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Vod, Alor, you’re home,</span>
  </em>
  <span>” Cody assured in Mando’a, taking the both of them into his arms. “</span>
  <em>
    <span>You’re safe.</span>
  </em>
  <span>” </span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I'm on tumblr at CrabLab!</p>
<p>I know I have some multichapters and series going on (i'll get to those eventually) but in the meantime I've been vibing with these so-</p>
<p>Also Apollo is my 212th medic oc! He'll pop up in my fics uwu he's the kind that like. If you tell him you're avoiding medical he'll cry until you go to medical.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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